Obama campaign arm encouraging Newtown anniversary events

The political advocacy group born from President Obama's reelection campaign is encouraging supporters to host "anniversary events" marking one year since the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting.

Organizing for Action (OFA) says it intends the events to be a "powerful reminder of what we lost a year ago, and a reminder that we as a nation need to do more to prevent gun violence and keep our communities safe."

OFA says that the events will be held in towns and cities across the country and will be used to "call on Congress to finally take action to make our communities safer."

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Following the mass shooting that left 20 schoolchildren and six school employees dead, Obama called for legislation that would expand background checks on firearm purchases, create new penalties on straw purchases and include new funding for school security.

Obama repeatedly invoked the victims in his call for the reforms, telling lawmakers "shame on us" if they had forgotten the children who perished.